New Delhi: Debate over who is the greatest – Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli ——Never be silent. Many former cricketers have been asked this question and recently, former India captain Sourav Ganguly found himself in a difficult spot.In terms of most international runs, Tendulkar ranks first with 34,357 runs, while Kohli completes the top three with over 28,000 runs. Kohli has surpassed Tendulkar’s record for most ODI centuries to reach 53 centuries, while Tendulkar had 49 centuries in his illustrious career.
In Tests, Tendulkar has 51 centuries while Kohli has 30 centuries. Tendulkar has accumulated 15,921 runs in Tests while Kohli has scored 9,230 runs.During the event, a moderator asked Ganguly: “Tell me, there is a debate – an endless debate – that we want to end here. Virat or Sachin?“Ask me, both of them are great and I am the happiest. Both of them are from India and they have won so many games for India. You can’t even imagine. Because when you play, you realize how difficult it is to score so many runs, so many centuries. [Don’t ask me that. Both are great, both are very good, and I am happiest that both are from India. They have won so many matches for India. You cannot even imagine, because when you play, you realise how difficult it is to score so many runs and so many centuries]Ganguly said.“Sachin Tendulkar is a very good player. I have seen him from the side and I have played a lot of games with him. Whenever I play with him for two to ten days, my father at home always tells me that my friends should not look down on my games. Every now and then my wife would ask me why I was getting worse at games. I don’t want to say there’s such a big player on the other end and an average player on the other end, so I never want my game to go down. [Sachin Tendulkar is a very great player. I have seen him from close quarters, I have played so much with him. When I had opened around 250 ODIs with him, I would always come home and say that my game should not go down. Sometimes my wife would ask why, since form goes up and down. I would say no — people will say that at one end there is such a great player and at the other end there is an average player. So I never wanted my game to dip]”, he said.“[Aur main 1 cheez life mein believe karta hoon ki aap acche logon ke saath kheloge na jo aapse behtareen player hain, jo aapse stronger player hai, aapka game bhi improve hota hai kyunki aapka level bhi wo ban jaata hai. Isliye mere hisaab se Virat Kohli aur Sachin Tendulkar ke beech comparison hona nahi chahiye. Dono Bharat ke hain. But main Sachin ko bahut paas se dekha hoon aur bahut bade player hai wo. [One thing I believe in life is that when you play with good people, players who are better and stronger than you, your game also improves because your level rises to theirs. So in my opinion, there should not be a comparison between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. Both belong to India. But I have seen Sachin very closely, and he is a very great player]Ganguly said.
